How closely do the NRC rankings correspond to the strength of UNDERGRAD programs?

College Search & Selection
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<p>I've always been opposed to ranking schools overall, since it's really apples and oranges. However, it seems to me that it should be possible to rank within a specific field. The NRC</a> rankings from the National Research Council attempt to do just that for graduate programs. The NRC rankings use citations, publications, and grants to measure faculty strength as well as a peer assessment component. While the "current" rankings are quite old, a new version is due out soon (or so I read). For more information on NRC methodology, read [url=<a href="http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/Resdoc/PGA_044479%5Dthis%5B/url"&gt;http://sites.nationalacademies.org/pga/Resdoc/PGA_044479]this[/url&lt;/a&gt;].&lt;/p>

<p>My question has two parts:</p>

<p>1) Is the NRC a reasonably valid method for determining the quality of research-oriented graduate programs?</p>

<p>and if so...</p>

<p>2) Is such information useful for a future undergrad in mathematics or engineering?</p>

2

<p>There is really no way to measure just the undergrad portions of a program. Graduate rankings do tell you about how prestigious the program is in academia, how well known the professors there are, how good the research being done there is. That might be important to you, depending on your needs. It’s especially good for grad school admissions. Nothing screams “admit” like a rec from a hot shot professor.</p>